Audible Announces Channels, an Unlimited Short-Form Digital Audio Service Available for $4.95 Per Month, or Free with Audible Premium Membership

Enjoy on-the-go original programs, commute-sized comedy, and
important stories of the day in advertising-free audio

NEWARK, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Audible Inc., the world’s largest seller and producer of downloadable
audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, today announced the
launch of Channels, an unlimited, advertising-free on-demand listening
service featuring a consistently refreshed and thoughtfully organized
collection of original programming and exclusive content including
cutting-edge episodic programs, distinctive comedy, lectures and the
best of audio periodicals.

Channels is available as a free benefit for Audible Premium members, and
can be purchased as a stand-alone offering for $4.95 a month.

“From our origins – harking back to the time when Audible commercialized
the first digital audio player in 1997 and launched original short-form
premium programming with Robin Williams in 2000 – we have believed the
quality and character of everyday life would be enhanced by delivering
the culture’s most compelling and artfully performed spoken words,” said
Audible founder and CEO Donald Katz. “Channels is a natural extension of
that founding premise, and we believe this new shorter-form service and
the exciting original productions to come will become as popular and
habit-forming as Audible’s audiobook service. It is a real pleasure to
offer Audible Channels to our current and future Premium members as a
free benefit.”

Channels will offer handpicked content in digestible shorter formats.
Listeners can hear key audio selections from The Wall Street Journal,Scientific American, and The Onion; and they will find
programs arrayed across general topics such as Science Fiction, Food,
Comedy, Sports, History, and Leadership.

At launch, Channels programming available to hear includes “Presidents
Are People Too,” a series that recasts each of the American presidents
into real-life people complete with flaws, quirks, triumphs, scandals,
and bodily ailments, hosted by former Daily Show writer Elliott Kalan
and American historian Alexis Coe; exclusive audio renditions of The
Onion; “Limelight,” which highlights the best new standup
performances from comedy clubs across the country with rotating guest
hosts such as T. J. Miller, Ron Funches and the Sklar Brothers; “Hold On
with Eugene Mirman,” in which funny live stories are interrupted with
new details divulged by even funnier special guests, such as Jim
Gaffigan and “Weird Al” Yankovic; “Hot Mic with Dan Savage,” an
exclusive no-holds-barred look at sex featuring true confessions
performed live on stage; lectures from The Great Courses; and exclusive
audio from Smithsonian Magazine, Harvard Business Review andMcSweeney’s.

“The Audible Channels team includes gifted creators who have come
together in a way reminiscent of the vaudevillians and stand-up
comedians who helped define the creative burst when radio began, and
like the novelists who flocked to Hollywood to add elite
professional-grade creativity to the birth of a new medium,” Mr. Katz
added. “Led by Eric Nuzum, whose talents and pioneering accomplishments
speak for themselves, the team includes the creators of many of the
industry’s most-listened-to podcasts, as well as original programming
experts ranging across dramatic entertainment, documentaries and comedy
of all stripes, along with producers and editors who understand how to
deliver the most compelling news and lifestyle-focused programming.”

Beginning today, listeners can also access preview episodes or excerpts
from forthcoming original programs including “The Butterfly Effect,”
hosted by Jon Ronson; “Breasts Unbound,” in which science journalist
Florence Williams delves into the mysteries of the human breast; “Mortal
City,” a talk show on the street and on the fringe with crime reporter
Kathleen Horan; and “Authorized,” in which authors share their most
intimate firsts, from drafts to rejections, with up-and-coming media
personality Ashley C. Ford.

Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com,
Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading provider of premium
digital spoken audio information and entertainment on the Internet,
offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every
day. Audible was created to unleash the emotive music in language and
the habituating power and utility of verbal expression. Audible content
includes more than 300,000 audio programs from leading audiobook
publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper
publishers, and business information providers. Audible is also the
preeminent provider of spoken-word audio products for Apple’s iTunes®
Store.